Ecofriendly Prefab Homes Debut in Turkey

In Turkish, the word for a slum is gecekondu, meaning "settled overnight." A prefabricated house doesn't go up quite that quickly, but mass production can make homes--of both the conventional and ecofriendly type--available to more people at varying income levels.

The Turkish construction company Orca Yapı Sistemleri claims to have designed the country's first green modular home. While prefab construction isn't inherently ecofriendly, these houses perform well on energy efficiency and other measures.By building with walls made of insulated materials, the company says it can make its homes four to eight times more efficient than similar, traditionally built models. A demonstration unit currently on display outside of Istanbul has solar panels for heating water and generating electricity. "Normally a house of this size would be covered in panels, but the unit is so efficient and there is so little energy loss that we have done it with 12 panels," Orca Yapı owner Gonca Gül told the Turkish Daily News.

In Turkish, the word for a slum is gecekondu, meaning "settled overnight." A prefabricated house doesn't go up quite that quickly, but mass production can make homes--of both the conventional and ecofriendly type--available